ACE Producers and Independent Film Foundation are pleased to announce the call for applications for the Training Days Poland, which has been set up thanks to the support of the Polish Film Institute.
Strengthening independent producers, ACE Producers uses the power of the ACE Network’s collective knowledge to tackle the challenges and seize the opportunities in an everchanging industry. ACE Producers enables profound collaborations through honest dialogue in the safe trusted space of the ACE Network and fosters valuable exchange of high-level knowledge about the independent audio-visual industry in Europe and beyond. ACE Producers provides top quality executive education in European creative producing and entrepreneurialism.
The Crossing / Přes hranici
We would love to inform to you that the feature animated film THE CROSSING / Přes hranici was awarded at ZLIN FILM FESTIVAL yesterday – Special Jury Prize in a Feature Films in the Youth Category (Niklas Teng – Chairman of Jury)!!!
The largest and the oldest film festival of its kind in the world featured this year 280 films from 45 countries around the world. In the international competition of feature films for youth, the audience discovered the feature film The Crossing which was made with the significant participation of Czech creators.
The French director Florence Miailhe, in her feature debut, inspired by her grandmother's sketchbook, opted for a very ambitious technique of oil painting on glass. The Czech crew, headed by the animator Lucia Sunkova, made nearly 40% of all animations in the film in 18 months of shooting using this technique, which was created by director and painter Florence Miailhe.
Although the Czech premiere of the film is scheduled on November 25, festival-goers have already been able to watch this art-house work. “It is the first full-length film to be made with this animation technique and we are pleased that the audience is taking a strong experience from the screening. We are all the more pleased with the Zlin Film Festival prize because the film has succeeded in the category dedicated to youth. Even though the story is sad but beautiful at the same time, the young visitors were able to find this power in the film and perceive it," explains co-producer Martin Vandas (MAUR film).

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The next festival stop will be the Haifa International Festival in Israel, Spanish festival in San Sebastian, followed by the Bucheon IFF in South Korea, German DOK Leipzig or the BFI Film Festival.
The audience was really enthusiastic and we have a great start for our planned theater release in France in September (Gebeka), in the Czech Republic in November (Pilot Film) and Germany in January.
Please find more details about the film and the crew on the website.

Connecting cottbus, the East-West co-production market at the FilmFestival Cottbus, presents this year’s selection of projects in development and works in progress.
On 3-5 November, the 23rd edition of connecting cottbus (coco) will take place as a hybrid event with online and on-site components and we look forward to welcoming industry guests in Cottbus physically this year. As we continue to monitor the pandemic situation, more details about the programme will be available in the upcoming weeks.
The Czech Film Fund distributed 474,000 EUR / 12 m CZK as production grants for documentaries on 8 September 2021.
WARSAW: ACE Producers and Independent Film Foundation are launching the call for applications for Training Days Poland, an event which will be held in Warsaw 17-18 November 2021 with support from the Polish Film Institute.
TIVAT: The second module of Circle Women Doc Accelerator 2021 will be held in a hybrid format in Tivat, Montenegro, from 21 to 26 September 2021.
COTTBUS: The 23rd edition of connecting cottbus (coco), the East-West coproduction market at FilmFestival Cottbus, will be held in a hybrid format 3-5 November 2021. The selection of projects in development and works in progress includes 19 projects.
MODULE 02 OF THE PROGRAM DEDICATED TO FEMALE DIRECTORS AND PRODUCERS
BUCHAREST: Former HBO Europe senior executives Wayne Henry and Alina David have launched the independent Romanian owned media production company EastWest Productions.
Macedonian Minority Coproduction Hive Selected as Kosovan Oscar Candidate
North Macedonia 16-09-2021SKOPJE: Hive by Blerta Basholli, a coproduction between Kosovo, Switzerland, North Macedonia and Albania, has been selected as Kosovo’s candidate for the 94th Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences award in the Best International Feature Film category.

